Ivoryton Playhouse presents 'La Cage Aux Folles'

Published 12:21 pm, Thursday, August 7, 2014

James Van Treuren (left) is playing Georges and David Edwards is Albin in the Ivortyon Playhouse production of "La Cage Aux Folles" that opened on August 8 and is running through August 31.

James Van Treuren (left) is playing Georges and David Edwards is Albin in the Ivortyon Playhouse production of "La Cage Aux Folles" that opened on August 8 and is running through August 31.

Photo: Picasa, Contributed Photo

Ivoryton Playhouse presents 'La Cage Aux Folles'

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A musical that was considered daring in the early 1980s -- "La Cage Aux Folles" -- has since gone on to become a mainstream classic.

The show about a middle-aged gay couple -- running and performing in a French nightclub -- opened on Broadway just as the AIDS epidemic was becoming page one news throughout the country. While the original run of the musical was a hit in New York City, the first national tour was curtailed.

In the years since then, gay-themed plays, films and TV shows have become commonplace and the legalization of gay marriage in many states has made the bond between nightclub star Albin and his longtime partner Georges about as far from "shocking" as a piece of pop culture can get.

In an interview last week, director Larry Thelen said that everyone at the theater had been wanting to do the musical for some time, so it was decided last year to do it with the same production team that put together the 2013 Ivoryton hit "Dreamgirls."

Thelen recalled seeing the show as a straight 22-year-old in 1984.

"The subject matter didn't really mean anything to me then. I just thought, `Jerry Herman has done it again,' " the director said of the composer-lyricist whose earlier smash hits included "Hello, Dolly!" and "Mame."

"It wasn't until years later that I realized it was a groundbreaker," Thelen added of Herman and Fierstein placing a gay couple at the center of a Broadway show.

"When you read the script, it doesn't deal with sexuality at all and it certainly doesn't deal with AIDS. I think (the problems with the show in the 1980s) are more a commentary on American society being obsessed with gay men and their sex lives. ...The show is just the story of a man who is in love with another man. In essence it's about a long-term marriage," he added.

"The focus of the show has never changed, but the attitudes toward the gay community have changed drastically," he said of the two successful Broadway revivals during the past decade.

Thelen decided to cut one line from the original script in which Georges asks Albin to let go of his hand, saying "Oh please, we're in public."

"That just doesn't make sense anymore," the director said. "A love story between two men isn't daring anymore. It's beautiful."

The popularity of the musical has little to do with changing sexual politics, Thelen stressed. "It's just a terrific show and certainly one of Jerry Herman's top scores -- right up there with `Dolly' and `Mame.'

"Jerry Herman was at his best with larger-than-life characters overcoming obstacles and succeeding," he said of the songwriter's three blockbuster hits. "That's not the case with the (Herman flops) `Dear World' and `Mack & Mabel.' "

The 12.14 Foundation in Newtown is producing two summer shows for children, "A Rockin' Midsummer Night's Dream," which will present its final performance on Sunday, Aug. 10, at 5 p.m. and "The 101 Dalmatians Musical" set for Aug. 10 at noon.

The shows began performances at Newtown High School on Aug. 1 and involve more than 200 children from the Newtown area.

The shows are a continuation of the 12.14 Foundation's mission to "promote personal development through high-level performing arts programs." The foundation was formed following the mass murder at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The group is working toward building a performing arts center in Newtown as "a living remembrance of those lost on December 14, 2012."